The present invention relates to a medical system making use of a medical instrument that is inserted through the body of a patient during surgical operation for in vivo treatments, in vivo viewing, etc., and a method of controlling a medical instrument.
There is laparoscopic surgery now available wherein various medical instruments inserted through a trocar passed from the body surface of a patient through the body cavity apply various surgical treatments and medical examinations in the body of the patient. Although this laparoscopic surgery is less invasive of patients due to the fact that the size of the body surface site to be cut open may be small, much is left to be desired in the visibility of an endoscope and the operability of medical instruments because there is the need of applying treatments while performing in vivo viewing using the endoscope.
Japanese Patent No. 4014792 discloses that the driver of a treatment portion is driven such that the degree-of-freedom configurations of the treatment portion and an operating portion are aligned in such a way as to make a posture of a medical instrument in the treatment portion identical with a posture of the medical instrument in the operating portion, thereby improving on the operability of the medical instrument.
Japanese Patent No. 3683554 discloses a surgical robot comprising a mode changeover means for changing a joint assembly of a medical instrument from a free state where the joint assembly is capable of free movement to a fixedly locked state where the joint assembly is fixed in place, and a pressure detector means provided on an outer wall surface of a trocar for controlling the motion changeover means based on the result of detection.